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AMD Shanghai Opteron CPUs On Linux

Phoronix: AMD Shanghai Opteron CPUs On Linux

Last quarter AMD introduced their "Shanghai" Opteron processors that join the ranks of Intel's Harpertown Xeon CPUs that are 45nm quad-core server/workstation parts. Initial reviews of these new AMD Opteron processors have been very positive, but how do these chips perform with Linux? In this article we have our hands on a few of the fastest Shanghais, the AMD Opteron 2384 clocked at 2.7GHz, as we see how well they compare to the older "Barcelona" Opteron processors.

Based on the single game test (and the fact that Shanghai is the same silion as the new Phenom II Deneb), the new Phenoms will be 10% faster clock for clock. That would put the 3.0GHz Phenom II against the 2.83GHz Q9550 at $319 and the 2.8GHz against the 2.66GHz Q9400 at $266. Not bad.

Of course, the AM3 Phenoms in February should be slightly faster (~5%) if memory is the bottleneck.

Interesting findings indeed, alas, without proprer "contrast" (AKA Intel parts performance) these results only show that indeed the Shanghai cores are an overall improvement from the Barcelona parts, which is good and all, but to add perspective, it would be better to have Intel numbers as well (for both present and past generation, as well)

Interesting findings indeed, alas, without proprer "contrast" (AKA Intel parts performance) these results only show that indeed the Shanghai cores are an overall improvement from the Barcelona parts, which is good and all, but to add perspective, it would be better to have Intel numbers as well (for both present and past generation, as well)

On that note though doing a head to head on such systems should really have more tests relevant to what such a setup would be used for which would be typically server use. Right now PTS is a bit bare in that department. I really doubt for example mp3 encoding will be a big selling feature of server chips where as apache performance, many thread dbase queries, power usage, vitualization etc would be more a concern.

Yeah... right now the benchmarks all seem to say "AMD is faster on a bunch of things, and Intel is faster on a bunch of different things, and the better CPU depends on which things you think are most important".

On that note though doing a head to head on such systems should really have more tests relevant to what such a setup would be used for which would be typically server use. Right now PTS is a bit bare in that department. I really doubt for example mp3 encoding will be a big selling feature of server chips where as apache performance, many thread dbase queries, power usage, vitualization etc would be more a concern.

For the current Opteron Shanghai cores, yes. But the desktop Phenom II CPUs will use virtually the same cores (with a few changes, like no ECC memory requirement and faster RAM). This, though, should give perspective on what could we expect the performance be like for the Desktop versions. Like Bridgman says, currently the tendency to determine he "best" CPU seems to be "what do you want to do with it?" question which might still be relevant for users who simply want a "general purpose" desktop PC.

For the current Opteron Shanghai cores, yes. But the desktop Phenom II CPUs will use virtually the same cores (with a few changes, like no ECC memory requirement and faster RAM). This, though, should give perspective on what could we expect the performance be like for the Desktop versions. Like Bridgman says, currently the tendency to determine he "best" CPU seems to be "what do you want to do with it?" question which might still be relevant for users who simply want a "general purpose" desktop PC.

In that case then you could probably go by the many Phenom II benchmarks already out there for those things or simply wait until the 8th.

I think it would have been more interesting to see a 2356 OC'd to 2.7ghz in this comparison so we could have a better perspective on what the clock for clock improvements are. In any case, I'm very enthusiastic about these new cores

So, my new AMD Phenom II X4 940 system using an AMD 790GX/SB750 motherboard and an AMD Radeon HD 4850 1GB is arriving soon Could have been here already if I didn't do a mistake, well it's coming early next week now